I've never been a fan of the guy's music, and I may have even made a lame Kenny G joke or two back when he was absolutely huge, but what did I know? As a guy who took up the piano as an adult, stopped, and started again, I can only appreciate the hard work and effort other musicians have dedicated to their craft.
I can't even believe that any jazz critic would go on record to badmouth Kenny G. As someone said, no one ever made a statue of a critic. If you can do better, let's hear it. We're all critical, or we should be, but doing it professionally seems like the worst job in the world. One of the critics, Chris Washburn, even looks like Kenny G, or he's trying hard to look like him.
And Pat Metheny? That guy can go eat a bag of Kenny G manure. Who died and made Pat Metheny the gatekeeper of what is and isn't acceptable in music? I never liked Kenny G's music (and hated his name), but I won't stand by and allow someone to tell me I can't listen to his music.
So, what's wrong with Kenny G and his music? This is only a question for those of us who don't like it, of course. I learned this about him from this film. After his stellar music and academic career in high school he went to the University of Washington in Seattle and studied accounting. Accounting? Yikes! He said he wasn't interested in studying music. OK, I don't really get that, but to study accounting is like the exact opposite of music, or art of any kind.
From this documentary, I find him to be about the least articulate musician about his craft that I've ever heard. His need for acceptance made me cringe over and over. He couldn't even defend himself against a cowardly bully like Pat Metheny, and I'm sure Kenny would have rather shaken hands with Pat than deliver some caustic barb in the guitarist's general direction. Similarly, I find G's music to be without any bite or grit or anything that would challenge me to like it, but that doesn't mean I think others shouldn't like it.
I liked G's constant proclamation that we need to work hard, and practice, practice, practice. I loved how he looked on fatherhood as a challenge and something he vowed to excel at--if only more men were like this when faced with this enormous responsibility that they chose.
